Smart card connectors with contact elements that contact the contact pads of a smart card at the time the smart card is inserted into the smart card connector are well known. By way of example., attention is drawn to the following documents:                DE 101 29580        DE 3931 508        GB 2198 595        
With such known smart card connectors, different problems occur. For example, if a smart card conector is frequently used, deteriorations of the contacts occur, a situation which has as a consequence, that the number of insert cycles is small. A further problem of smart card connectors of the known design is that if inserting the smart card into the smart card reader scratches will occur which are caused by the contact elements of the smart card connectors on the contact surfaces or contact pads of the smart card.
Inasmuch as the present invention relates in particular to the design of the reading contact elements, said reading contact elements will be referred to in the following description simply by “reading contacts”.
It is noted, that known smart card connectors have relatively large dimensions and use a plurality of individual components like a card sled or reciprocally mounted card receiving space. Another problem with smart card connectors is the low safety against intrusions.